Strawberry Meyer Lemon Marmalade Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you boil marmalade too long? ›

Don't overcook your marmalade

Lady Claire Macdonald, food writer: While you're testing your marmalade to see if it's set, take it off the boil. Otherwise you risk boiling away the water content, and ending up with a dark, over-thick marmalade that's dry and rubbery.

Add the shredded peel and muslin bag to the pan along with the water. Leave to soak overnight. This helps to extract the maximum amount of pectin from the fruit pulp, which will give a better set.

1. Add chia seeds to the recipe. Chia seed jam is a method of making jam that requires no cooking. The chia seeds soak up the juice and moisture from fruit purée and plump up, giving a thickening effect to the jam without using heat or added sugar or pectin.

If the proportions of fruit, acid, pectin, water and sugar in your pan are not balanced, the marmalade will be unlikely to set. Nine times out of ten, marmalade fails to set if the recipe does not have a precise weight of ingredients.

Pop a plate in the freezer at the beginning of your cooking time. Once you think that your jam has reached its setting point or has thickened, spoon a bit of the jam on the cold plate and tilt it vertically so the jam runs. You are aiming for a slow descent, not a runny mess. If it runs slow, it's set!

As you have made a successful batch I doubt that it is because you didn't squeeze the muslin bag sufficiently so it's likely that it wasn't boiled enough. The size of the oranges shouldn't make any difference. You can re-boil it. You will need to empty the marmalade into the pan and add the juice of a lemon.

Pectin is key

“Mandarin marmalade is harder to make; mandarins don't have as much pectin. Lemons are really good. A lemon and ginger marmalade's a really nice one to make, lots of pectin, so that one will set easily.

A sugar thermometer is a must, particularly if you've never made marmalade before. There are other ways to check the progress of your marmalade such as the wrinkle or flake test, but a specially designed sugar thermometer will give the most accurate decision that the setting point of 104.5˚C has been reached.

Citrus is the most typical choice of fruit for marmalade, though historically the term has often been used for non-citrus preserves. One popular citrus fruit used in marmalade production is the bitter orange, Citrus aurantium var.

How do you fix runny marmalade? Runny may mean not enough pectin. You could Try boiling to get it thicker. If that doesn't work try adding a small amount of sugar if it's not too sweet.

Does lemon juice thicken marmalade? ›

Lemons contain a very high amount of pectin, which naturally sets and thickens the marmalade.

There are a few ways to thicken homemade marmalade. One is to cook it longer, which will result in the sugars become more concentrated and the marmalade will become thicker. Another way is to add pectin, which is a natural thickener derived from fruit or vegetables.

Too often the weights of fruit and sugar are unbalanced, for example listing equal quantities of fruit and sugar. The volume of water is often insufficient to soften the peel before adding the sugar. The type and method used with a muslin bag fails frequently to release enough pectin, crucial when making marmalade.

Adding acid in the form of fresh lemon or lime juice is important for two reasons: First, it makes for a more well-balanced jam, returning some of the acidity lost with the addition of sugar. Second, pectin needs acid to properly activate, or firm up.

Take a cup of hot water and add to the overcooked jam. After adding hot water stir it properly after 3min will get the same consistency of jam and you can have it.

Setting point is 104.5°C. You can tell when jam is reaching setting point as the fast, frothy rolling boil will reduce to a slower, more relaxed boil. The tiny air bubbles disappear, the surface looks glossy and the mixture will feel thicker. Undercook rather than overcook – runny jam can be cooked up again.

If, on the other hand, the jam is rock solid, that means you've gone too far and cooked it too long.